Happy New Year to you all! I suppose I should apologize for my long hiatus from Broadway Fillmore Alive, which has been accompanied by a long hiatus from Buffalo. After my last post (in May 2016) I spent the summer on a multi-country trip through Europe and Western Asia, after which I only managed to visit Buffalo for two days before rushing back to my job in Iowa. I was excited to come to Buffalo for Thanksgiving…And then I spent the entire time in bed with a stomach virus. Only in the past three weeks have I been able to spend some time enjoying my hometown. And, I was very lucky to have a dear friend from my new community come to visit me.Of course I took him to many Buffalo landmarks – Niagara Falls, Canalside, the Anchor Bar. However, he was just as impressed – if not more – by the the Broadway Fillmore area. So, dear readers, when your friends come to Buffalo, don’t be afraid to show them the riches we have here. This neighborhood will only grow and flourish if we support it, treating it with pride and respect rather than stigma or fear. Visit Broadway-Fillmore all year round. Bring your friends. Take pride in our city’s rich past and hopeful future.
My friend Ben from Dubuque, IA was thrilled to see the Buffalo Central Terminal.The Central Terminal is undoubtedly one of the most interesting sites in Buffalo…not only due to its past, but also its promising future.My friend Ben was determined to sneak into the Terminal. Hopefully when he comes back the building will be restored and open to the public!This native midwesterner had never tried pierogi! A stop at Pott´s lunch counter in the Broadway Market was essential.Ben was impressed with the vendors at the Broadway Market and ended up buying hats as souvenirs to take home to his family.It always shocks me how few customers shop at the Broadway Market on any given Saturday (but this wasn’t any Saturday – It was New Year’s Eve!)The East West Café at the Market offers delicious food to eat in or take out – not just at Easter time, but all year long.At the Christmas Day morning Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, I counted no more than twenty people in the congregation. How is any parish supposed to survive with such low Sunday attendance? The Solemnity of Mary Polish Mass – which I brought Ben to on January 1 – had a slightly bigger congregation, but still not enough to make the community sustainable. These beautiful East Side churches will only remain open if we support them.Back in Dubuque, IA Ben works as a catholic worker at a house of hospitality which provides housing for about ten men, two free community meals per week, and a drop-in food pantry. This work led him to be greatly interested in St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy, an organization that, like the catholic worker movement, depends on the voluntary collaboration of many dedicated individuals and organizations rather than governmental support.St. Luke’s was closed on New Year’s Day, but Edward from the Good Shepherd Residence kindly granted us an impromptu tour.Jezu ufam tobie…Jesus, I trust in you. This was the mantra of St. Faustina, the 20th century Polish mystic who first received the Divine Mercy image. This is the mantra that inspires the work that the missionaries at St. Luke’s and their supporters have been doing for nearly 25 years.The story of St. Luke’s was very inspiring to Ben, who, as a catholic worker, seeks to complete works of mercy – feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, praying for the living and the dead, etc. – on a daily basis.Of course, no visit to Buffalo would be complete without a trip to the Erie Basin Marina. We were delighted to find a message of peace in the sand. May 2017 be a year of hope for our city, country and world.
